In an interview with The Telegraph, Antonio Conte expressed belief that his second season at Chelsea could've gone much better if his transfer wishes had been met.
"My history says that I always arrived at my clubs in a difficult situation with problems. I always build," Conte said.
"After my first season at Chelsea, when we won the title, we could have become dominant in England.
"We spoke with Lukaku and Van Dijk, and with those two important players we could have changed the situation."
The fact that Chelsea were interested in both Romelu Lukaku and Virgil van Dijk during Conte's time at the club was nothing new. However, in the summer of 2017, Lukaku joined Man United, while Van Dijk had to wait until the following January to move to Liverpool.
Instead of Van Dijk, Conte received Antonio Rudiger who played his best football at Chelsea after the Italian's departure. Apart from him, though, Chelsea signed Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater and Davide Zappacosta, making that transfer campaign one of the worst and most damaging in the long term in the club's history.
